Productivity and GTD

Be proactive!

AUTHOR: Francisco Sáez

"Look at the word responsibility—“response-ability”—the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling." ~ Stephen Covey

Being proactive means taking responsibility for your life and actions rather than just watching how things happen.

Being proactivetakes time, since you have to consider your options, weigh alternatives and make your own decisions in order to achieve your goals. A reactive behavior is influenced by the environment and outside forces.

Being proactive means anticipating problems, seeking new solutions and doing your best. Being reactive, on the contrary, means solving problems when they turn up, not wanting changes and doing the minimum effort.

Are you being proactive or reactive? Review your GTD system and your task lists. How many of these tasks have been generated by you? How many of them have been imposed by someone else?

To be proactive you need to be clear about your goals in life, and carry out actions to help you achieve these goals. David Allen recommends a 6-level model for reviewing your own work to get your day-to-day actions aligned with your long-term objectives.

A New Year. Good time to review your current projects and actions. How many of them are related to larger goals in your life?